"When I was a young 17 or 18-year-old whippersnapper wanting to go down to Los Angeles to become an actor, that was the worst idea they'd ever heard. My dad, it looked like I told him I was getting a sex change or something. He just couldn't fathom a life like that," he told Collider.

The 36-year-old continued: "Now though they see that it is in fact a real job and a real career. They come to the set, they go, 'I can't believe you just worked 16 hours!' It's not all puppy dogs and ice cream, but, they're into it. They think it's kind of a cool chosen field."

Ryan, who made his TV debut in Canadian-produced teen soap Hillside in 1990, may play a dead cop in his new comic-book film RIPD but he revealed he used to be a troublemaker around his local neighbourhood with his four brothers.

"When I was a kid, like a little kid, maybe nine or 10, I was a complete a*****e. I would run around the neighbourhood on Halloween throwing firecrackers in peoples' mailboxes, at their houses, and things like that. We were just these little hell raisers," he recalled.

"I'm so terrified that I'm gonna have sons one day that behave this way. It goes right up until I was about 18 and then I sort of straightened out," he added.

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